Lucky Dip #2 - Silverfish's Cockeye

On to the next bargain bin blind purchase (and a pretty poor photo on my behalf). I picked up English outfit Silverfish's debut LP Cockeye (well it's a "mini" album - their first two EPs brought together) from the same charity shop in Streatham as I got Big Dipper's album (I'm not telling you which one, it's proving to be a goldmine!) and chose it solely because it was a Touch & Go release. It's a stamp of a certain kind of quality, and it turned out a fine one. Cockeye opens (the A-Side is called the Snapper Side) with a couple of seconds of muffled 'Jolene' before a screeched "motherfuckers" from Les Rankine kickstarts 'Dolly Parton'. A hardcore track with Dead Kennedys wailing, the song is pinned further into the bowels of hell from guttural rhythms and rusted-saw guitarwork. Bodes well...

The slowed-groove and growl of 'On The Motorway' is both ridiculous and rancid, the bass almost LCD synthetic (you can imagine it being done on a touch pad in parts, which somehow makes this even better), Rankine pretty much just ranting the title over and over. 'Weird Shit' is even sourer - the guitar squall is diseased, the floor drum harsh and tapping the cones of the speakers, the "ah-ha" screams both funny and feral. The down-tuned drawl that develops into a rolling maul bleeds into 'Don't Fuck', and that is when things really kick into my kind of gear. A pummelling, buzzsawing, feedback drone drenched diatribe, this could be explosive White Hills white noise psych if it wasn't for the gangrenous intensity and Rankine's retched vocals. The bent strings madness from Andrew 'Fuzz' Duprey  and the guttural out-of-the-shadows howls that punctuate the track drives everything deliciously off the rails - a stretched-out noise caterwaul that I fucking love.

The Mullet Side blasts forth on 'One Silver Dollar'. The fidelity has improved here, and Rankine's vocals are a little more seasoned - like one of the Deals, but after eating a glass cigarette tray, spilt beer, butts and all. It's a more straightforward punk roll in my opinion, which segues nicely into 'T.F.A.' (Total Fuckin' Asshole), another dirty rock wail that rolls forth with grit and venom, cock rock riffs interspersed with white-noise fret strangling. I was waiting for the weird swamp rock motorik destruction to strike... 'Die' almost got me there. Chris Mowforth's bass is Jesus Lizard dirty; Rankine's basement jibbers, mutters and howls are gurning Mike Patton madness; Duprey lets loose with bent-string mayhem. Then we close out with 'Driller', a dirge that shows no mercy...

I feel like I should know this band - clearly influenced by and influencing many of the bands that now litter my record collection. Silverfish went on to record two more albums - 1991's Fat Axl (produced by Steve Albini) and Organ Fan in 1993, before disintegrating. No wonder, really... Great stuff worth revisiting wholesale.

Squalid Degreaser

I didn't even know that ex-Aussie Tim Evans' band Degreaser were still an active thing. I bought their first two albums, Bottom Feeder and Sweaty Hands, not that long ago, and those are two slices of fevered nastiness, unfettered, unrelenting, unrepentant. They also scream of a band born to implode. You can't tame such fetid beasts, and new record Rougher Squalor (out on Ever/Never Records) still attains some of the rust and grime of those awfully awesome releases. But it is clear on LP #3 that the trio want to fuse their dissonant elements into one awed, cellular whole, and in so doing have carved out a squalling psych behemoth where the trip is long and real yet the songs retain brevity and bite (not one of the eleven tracks breach four minutes). It's like someone herded Bo Ningen, White Hills, Straightjacket Nation and Coloured Balls into a holding pen then eviscerated the lot of them, scooped up the guts and sinew and molded them into the band we hear vomiting forth from the speakers. It's all in the wailing wah-riddled guitar, ripping the ozone apart fibre by fibre. There is still moments of Bird Blobs chicanery in the morbid monotone delivery of 'Do Me In', but mostly Rougher Squalor is all about cutting loose and steering straight for the eye of the sun, dragging us all kicking and screaming along with them. Fantastic stuff.

Holding Ides Forever In Prisms

Man, I've fallen hard for this song. Whilst Saturday was all about White Hills and Houndstooth, and Sunday was chilling on the Porch(es.) with Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk, I was always coming back to 'Prisms', the new single from Ides (AKA Alanna McArdle from Joanna Gruesome, who also have a new-ish track out) as part of Art Is Hard Records' Postcard Club. The step-up in production values (her earlier stuff is considerably lo-fi, and whilst the earnestness is evident, McArdle's power is somewhat muted) is a huge improvement, and instead of a maudlin curiosity we have a behemoth of heart wrenching capabilities. Think of Low's 'Laser Beam' from Things We Lost In The Fire - McArdle has that haunted delivery that Mimi Parker embodies, so when she sings It was over before it began you are lost at sea, never to return.

I seriously cannot explain how much this track has blindsided me. If Ides only launches this song before Joanna Gruesome swallows up McArdle whole, it won't matter - 'Prisms' is a minor masterpiece.

You can get 'Prisms' from AIH's Postcard Club here. Ides is playing the UK's B's (Bristol, Brighton, Bournemouth) in August and finishing up with the AIH festival in London August 31st.

Riding Out The Dark - Not For The Long In The (Hounds)Tooth

Seven day working weeks can be sum-bitches. Actually, they are bitches pretty much every time. But you find ways to deal with them. This week, I managed to sneak in a couple of gigs, a graphic novel and lunch with a group of friends - plus this blog, which keeps me sane even as it sends me insane. Sometimes the smallest things truly are the best.

Tonight I am squirreled away in the office, and two new pieces of music are helping whittle away these dead hours. Firstly it was White Hills' new LP So You Are...So You'll Be; the second is Ride Out The Dark, the debut record for Portland's Houndstooth. These two albums are almost yin and yang; whilst So You Are... is all bluster and anachronistic, fried-out noise, Ride Out The Dark is a languid, dusky affair, spiked with the occasional barbed arpeggio that only serves to reaffirm the hazy comfort that Houndstooth dole out in liberal doses. Katie Bernstein's vocals swings from husky whimsy ('Thunder Runner') to more brooding, haunted fare ('Canary Island'), all the while imbuing the sun-bleached Americana with its own understated beauty. Nevertheless, it is the influences both old (Neil Young in particular works into John Gnorski's slightly off-kilter guitar ramblings) and new (I couldn't get the idea that I should be playing My Morning Jacket's seminal 2003 album It Still Moves as a companion piece out of my head the first few spins) that are effectively worn into these ten tracks - smooth sailing from here on out.

You can grab Ride Out The Dark from No Quarter Records.

Houndstooth - Canary Island

In The White Hills Is Where You'll Be

Ever since I saw New York's spaced out oddities White Hills play a Thrill Jockey co-headliner at The Luminaire in London's Kilburn back in 2009 (the other band - Pontiak; the night - one of the best gigs I've seen), I have watched the movements of Dave W and Ego Sensation avidly. Their eponymous album of 2010 is still one of the best psych rock albums of the past decade, yet with each release the trio (often with Oneida's Kid Millions on the skins, but it is a bit of a carousel) manage to stretch out their baked noises into wider and weirder realms, yet have always brought the bluster and brutality.

Their latest record, So You Are...So You'll Be, continues the trend. Starting with the squelching scrawl and bleeps of 'InWords', before 'In Your Room' explodes, an insidious, almost idiotic circle jerk of leering quirks that somehow manages to ingratiate and grate at the same time, for the same reasons - that's an impressive feat, thus creating an imperceptible unease. 'The Internal Monologue' plays into more astral expanses, a drone-centric malaise that fires the synapses. The title track is classic White Hills, a rhythmic, incessantly repetitive groove that threatens to tear the lining from your brain. There is nothing overtly new being done here - it is just being done right. Then it cuts short, and we disappear down another modem line into a pixellated world of swirling psychosis - 'Forever In Space Enlightened' is currently my favourite track on the record, a undulating mind fuck that turns over to reveal a scorpion's tail of a guitar solo. That said, the album is made as an album - every song segues into the next, informing others that have already played or are yet to come... It takes investment into this warped, conceited world that White Hills inhabit, a barbiturate menagerie of hooks and bytes, but expect the narcotics to kick in and take you way, way away from here.

You can pre-order So You Are...So You'll Be here - get in quick to get the green vinyl and the special bonus 12"! They are also about to become the support for a huge tour of The Cult - seriously (those old bastards don't know what they've let themselves in for...)

White Hills - In Your Room

White Hills Burn Up The Road

New-ish label Outer Battery has some pretty sweet live LPs coming up that were recorded at Holland's Roadburn Festival last year (co-released by Roadburn Records, of course), none moreso than the current recording of LA's space rock demons White Hills. It's a killer set consisting of 'Three Quarters', 'Under Skin Or By Name', 'Radiate', 'The Condition Of Nothing' and signs off with a blistering 'H-p1'. The CD is sold out, but who cares when you can buy it on green vinyl? I sure don't. Further exciting news from Outer Battery is that they have become the USA arm of Roadburn Records, so expect to see live releases of past years' Roadburn fests from the likes of Neurosis, Wolves In The Throne Room and Yob become much more readily available.



You can get Live at Roadburn 2011 here.

White Hills Live - Side B

Gnod On The Wire Past The 5th Sun

Salford's best exponents of dark, dank, dirty psych drone (and funniest bastard alive Stewart Lee's fave band) Gnod have two recent releases of note that are damned (and killer).


First of all, we have Chaudelande Volume 2 which came out a few months ago on Tamed Records. The followup to Chaudelande Volume 1 (strangely...), this three track release is one tripped out motorik trip into the netherworld and back, guaranteed to tear a fraction of your soul away in the process. The grooves inherent in this album are insane - I never expected Gnod to reach these heady heights. I personally love 'Man On The Wire' (why didn't this soundtrack some portion of Kill List? Or maybe The Wicker Tree - that film mightn't have been such a dire disappointment otherwise...) and 'Entrance', but 'Genocider' is beautifully unrelenting also. They are so on song here that it is scary. You must get this - seriously.

Gnod - Man On The Wire


Then to make things interesting, along comes brilliantly destructive Irish label Trensmat (who have also put out sweet one-offs by the likes of White Hills, Evan Caminiti, Expo '70 and Cave) and and drops 5th Sun, a delectable slice of Gnodisms that works as a symmetrical trip into an exploding star. The flip side is '5th Dub', the closest these dark alchemists will ever get to being Massive Attack (and it's still solar systems in comparison). You can grab that one here.

Gnod - 5th Sun

One of the most underrated psych bands out there. Get on board.

Video Vacuum - Pink Mountaintops, Depth & Current, Christian Bland & the Revelators, Pontiak, White Hills

Two Video Vacuums in one week? Weird, right? But I'm not feeling terribly work-oriented, so what better way to waste time than to toke up and get psychedelic on everyone's asses? (NB: In case anyone from work reads this (IE slim to nil, but still...) I haven't really toked up. I have just rubbed my eyes really hard because I'm so tired from working outside work hours all night long, and don't want to fall asleep because I love my job sooooooo much...) Plus it's Austin Psych Fest weekend, so in lieu of not being there, here are some images that might denote what it'd be like if we were...

Let's start with Pink Mountaintops, the side project for Black Mountain's Stephen McBean (they toured recently with Dead Meadow - I missed that hot ticket, and am still paying the price...). 'While We Were Dreaming' is not a new track but thanks to the excellent Ongakubaka blog I have reacquainted myself with this great song.



Continuing the vein of epic psych bands with the colour black in their name's side projects, Black Angels axe-grinder Christian Bland has been pumping out tracks off his own bat, backed by The Revelators. Nothing new here - what it is is bloody good though.



It's certainly no secret that I love the shit out of Pontiak, the Carney brothers' ode to all things psych rock. Their latest opus Echo Ono is one of my fave albums of the year thus far, and 'Royal Colours' helps to keep the good times roll. I honestly thing that if I spent a weekend with these guys, I would end up covered in metallic paint with a devilish grin also. Just sayin.



Another SM fave, and also with a rad album under their belt in 2012, White Hills have a couple of vids floating about on the back of tracks from Frying On This Rock. Both 'You Dream You See' and 'Pads of Light' encapsulate the space spazz oddities that Dave W and Ego Sensation are, and are rocking to boot. I am a massive fan of this band, and you need to be too.





Finally I mentioned Depth & Current last year as their debut LP (through Nice People) was pretty solid. Here is this also solid video for the track 'Pick Yourself Up' - this band is a slowburner, but when it does latch hold of you they sizzle. Check it out for yourself. If you are in Norman, Oklahoma this weekend they are playing the Norman Music Festival, alongside some other ace acts like Bloody Knives, Amen Dunes, True Widow and Woods. Nice...



NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Getting Fried On The Rocks Of White Hills

Next month LA psych space rock behemoth White Hills unleashes another album on us in the form of Frying On This Rock. Holy shit its good. Then again, I always love what they offer. It opens up with the thundering motorik swirl and bluster of 'Pads Of Light', before 'Robot Stomp' takes us on a repetitive droning journey into the inner echelons of the psyche, its incremental ratcheting of the noise an otherworldly aural orgasm of unearthly delights. 'You Dream You See' feels like an amalgam of the first two tracks, but 'Song Of Everything' is an altogether different beast, delving into the heavy White Hills psych noise before stopping halfway through for silence, samples and general malaise, before kicking back in in the final sixty seconds. Finally we have 'I Write A Thousand Letters (Pulp On Bone)', a fucktastic orgy of brutal swirling psychedelia that eats the paint of the walls and the tar off the lungs. Its less atmospheric than 2011's H-p1, infused with an addled urgency that, like a meth addict, makes it hard to trust or predict, therefore you daren't take your eyes off it. That's a twisted seal of approval, right there.



Frying On The Rocks is out March 20 via Thrill Jockey. There were some half pink/half white vinyl versions available for pre-order, but they sold out in less than 24 hours. Nevertheless it is still available in the two colours above. How about that pink??? Sexy times. Pre-order your copy here.

White Hills - Pads Of Light

Back And Forth With The Skull Defekts

It really is a psych-tastic day, what with the awesome local flavourings of Dreamtime and the incredible, INCREDIBLE Vision Fortune paving the way before us. But Im not finished there, no way Jose! For Ive received an suitably eclectic but altogether radtastic release from the Thrill Jockey stable, for my friends in haze, The Skull Defekts.

The Skull Defekts have a new 12" EP coming out next month. Recorded during their US tour earlier this year, The Skull Defekts for this recording includes Daniel Higgs and Zomes (Asa Osborne). 2013-3012 features three new tracks; the B-side presents those songs played in reverse and reverse-cut, starting from the inner-most groove and playing out toward the edge of the record. United by a common belief in the power of music and sound, The Skull Defekts and Zomes soon found themselves performing together, and when a show was cancelled during the tour, recording together for an explosive and extremely creative one day session. The cover features artwork by Daniel Higgs.


The track below is actually an amalgam of the track 'Children of the Skull Defekts' and its mirror image 'Stkefed Lluks Eth Fo Nerdlihc', which gives you an amazing idea of what this release entails. I love these guys, and Higgs' involvement with them - their album Peer Amid is one of my favourites of the year (check out my thoughts here). The band are joining many of my favourite bands at the inimitable Supersonic Festival in Birmingham tonight for three days - Barn Owl, White Hills, Eternal Tapestry, Part Chimp, Mike Watt, Bardo Pond - fucking incredible, right?

The Skull Defekts - Childrenerdlihc

Getting Bludgeoned On The White Hills

White Hills, along with Thrill Jockey stablemates Pontiak, have always been on my playlists ever since their lightning show at London's now sadly defunct Luminaire March last year (that's a pic from it above). Dave W. and his surreal soiree havent sat idle since then, releasing live DVDs, cassettes and splits over the past year. now it's time for something more permanent, and so we have they second LP, H-p1. I have to say that I don't enjoy this one as much as their self titled debut - although this may change over repeated listens. The New York space-out rockers dispense with ambiance in the normal sense of the word, here exploring the various measure of sound - LOUD sound. It gets a bit...well, samey in the middle third, but this kind of music is made to be experienced in a full sitting anyway, not really in bite-sized chunks. They are very much a live band also - fuck that Luminaire was amazing... Or maybe the issue was the Oneida album - two albums of similar M.O.'s might be too much to take for this tiny mind... Whatever it is, H-p1 is what you'd expect of White Hills - and you can't really wish for much more than that. Plus it will only get better with further listens. Just make sure you do anything to get to the next White Hills show when they are in town - even if it means debasing yourself in the most humiliating notion deemed possible. Ive eaten rottweiler diarrhoea for less...


H-p1 is out now - get it here.

White Hills - The Condition Of Nothing

There's One Long Black Valley At The Foot Of White Hills

Ah, White Hills, you crazy psychedelic cats! So a month or so ago (for Record Store Day no less!) they released Black Valleys on Aquarius Records. Its one track recorded live at an Aquarius Records instore last year. Its called Black Valleys because that's what they performed as - they were already doing a gig that night in San Francisco and weren't allowed to do another one (how shit is that! Also, White Hills = Black Valleys, geddit? ahhhhh, those stoners!) Its half an hour of psych drawl bliss as only this LA freakniks know how. They have a new, proper release through Thrill Jockey, HP-1, out on Saturday - if you want to preorder, do so here. But while you wait (and seeing as Black Valleysis understandably sold out), here it is, the performance, in its entirety!

White Hills - Black Valleys

Video Vacuum Humpday - Errors, White Hills, Frog Eyes, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

I have a glut of great videos to show you this week, and Im starting strong to get us over the hump that is Wednesday.

First we have Glaswegian sonic manipulators Errors, who have a bizarre video for their new single 'Magna Encarta'. It suits their sound, which is essentially post rock writ large then siphoned through some skewed electronics. Then watch it all from the vantage point of a spaced out rooster. (NB - Errors are about to embark on a tour of North America, so check for dates and times - they are a very good live band to catch!)



Next up are White Hills, and the video for the first song off their upcoming seconf full-length album for Thrill Jockey, H-P1. If 'Condition Of Nothing' is anything to go by, this double LP (out in June) promises to be the best example of what White Hills can do yet, taking us further past the space rock point of no return than ever before. Band member Ego Sensation directed this little twisted opus...



Those Canadian idiosyncratic pop weirdos Frog Eyes have this little elaborate animated flick out for their track 'The Sensitive Girls' off last year's excellent Paul's Tomb: A Triumph. The video was made from just under 1000 hand drawn ink and pencil drawings by London-based Russian artist Marsha Balaeva. Check it out below...

Frog Eyes - "The Sensitive Girls" from stereogum on Vimeo.

And finally, we posted an interview with Kip from NY sonic popsters The Pains of Being Pure At Heart last week (see it here), so I thought that we should sample this, their latest single of second LP Belong. Its a funny, silly video about guitar store employees - and is just the right side of twee to get me through this morning! That and a fat cup of joe...

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart "Heart In Your Heartbreak" from Slumberland Records on Vimeo.

White On White

Here it is, a musical battles to the death (in my warped mind at least!). And here we have two bands whose monikers revel in the existence of all colours...er, have 'white' in their title, White Hills and White Rainbow, or should I say White Stag (White Rainbow is joined here by Stag Hare). Both bands using white as an adjective, both dealing in their own brand of sprawling numbers...how do they shape up?

Its widely acknowledged that Sonic Masala loves White Hills. Their self titled album on Thrill Jockey last year was ace, and their double billing with stablemates Pontiak in March at the Lumianire was stunning aural assaults as wave after wave of psychedelic sonics were forced down our throats. So its weird that Ive had Oddity II: Night Scene On Mill Mountain (on Drug Space Records) for so long without covering it here. I guess what with the manic ending of 2010 and the influx of releases at my disposal it somehow filtered to the bottom of the pack. Still, here it is...

And, well, Oddity II is a series of rarities and outtakes from various sources. 3 synth experiments, an alternate take on Hawkwind’s ‘Be Yourself’, a 27 minute remix… Its all a bit for purists at first glance, even if the Hawkwind cover is pretty blistering (though murkily recorded). Yet it is ‘Heads On Fire’, an outtake from their excellent White Hills album, and a slow, burbling untitled space jam that makes this release worth chasing down. These two track remind you once and for all why Dave W is a psych genius in the making, and will have you salivating at what he has in store for us.

White Stag is a different beast, but still a fearsome monster to behold. A collaboration of any kind can be anywhere from transcendental to the more likely occurrence of too many cooks. Yet White Stag (on Marriage Records) is a true cross section of White Rainbow's ambient electronic guitar montages and Stag Hare's tribal/hippy drones. The release is only 2 songs long, each song extended over 14 minutes, and it really isnt enough. The A side, 'Shhoopeey Shoop Mega House Remix' is a remix of a jam they had (which you can get in its 'original' form as a digital copy) and perfectly exemplifies the ambient propulsion that this collaboration brought forth, then cut in swathes of guitar interplay, drum sample loops and choral vocals into a menagerie of shimmering otherness. 'Driftwood Fresh Swells/Shells' is the B side, and it complements the other track perfectly, creating a oscillating dream swell of ocean floor incandescence. There is so much working within each track that it is a miracle how it all meshes together into the higher-plane behemoth that White Stag inevitably is.

So, two albums offering various stages of psych. One offers tantalising glimpses into the future, whilst the other is a work of art, fully formed, and the perfect launching pad into the cosmos.

White Hills - Heads On Fire

White Stag - Driftwood Fresh Swells/Shells

Sonic Masala's Fave Gigs of 2010!

OK, so we have seen a hell of a lot of gigs this year, so much so that it has been hard to keep track! So over a couple of Doom Bars on Sunday we tried to nut it all out, and still managed to miss a couple (ah...Mono?!?!?). Anyway, with our collective hazy memories somewhat in check, here are our favourite shows that blew us away. Again, there are more than ten here - no need in splitting hairs really. And whilst still not in a rigid order, the top few were the highlights amongst the highlights...

Sonic Masala's Favourite Shows of 2010

Double Dagger - ALL OF THEM! (Lock Tavern/Rest Is Noise/Cargo

Godspeed You Black Emperor (The Troxy)

White Hills/Pontiak (The Luminaire)

Thee Silver Mt Zion Orchestra (Electric Ballroom)

Mono (Scala)

Liars (Heaven)

Deerhunter (Heaven)

Part Chimp/Sloath/Gum Takes Tooth (The Luminaire)

Fuck Buttons/Factory Floor (Heaven)

My Disco/Factory Floor/Snowman (The Lexington)

The Knife - "Tomorrow, In A Year" opera (The Barbican)

Mi Ami/Islet (Barden's Boudoir)

Pontiak (Old Blue Last)

Action Beat/Stig Noise/Shield Your Eyes (The Macbeth)

Thee Oh Sees/Sex Beet (The Luminaire/Plan B)

Women (Cargo/The Social)

TuNe-YaRdS/Trash Kit (Cargo)

Eddy Current Suppression Ring (The Zoo, Brisbane, Australia - yep, my guilty pleasure!)

Best Travel Spots for 2011...by Pontiak

Those psychedelic wanderers from Virginia Pontiak have provided two of the best gigs of the year for me - their head to head psych-off with White Hills at the Luminaire last March, and their incendiary stand-alone show at the Old Blue Last in October (both of which we reviewed! Read here and here...). The Carney brothers are great guys, cruising along to their own tune, so I asked the guys if they'd like to provide a list for the end of 2010, which has seen them also release the ambitious Living LP on Thrill Jockey. As we've seen from past contributors, Pontiak didnt want to offer straight album releases or anything in that vein, instead focusing on parts of the world that we all should vie to visit in the New Year...

We don't have a list of our favorite albums, foods, books, movies etc ... I read too much and listen to too much and frankly never think about the ten best this or that. But we love to travel and over the last ten years, we have been to some really incredible places, eaten a lot of really great food, seen some really cool things and met all sorts of amazing people. Those travels have definitely affected our music and our way of looking at the world, and since we are now done with 2010 we thought it would be cool to send you a list of each of our favorite places we have seen/been.

So ...

Lain -

1.Ecuador
2.Hampi, India
3.Southern Pacific Coast, Mexico
4.Crater Lake, Oregon.

Van -

1. Petra, Ma'an Governate Jordan
2. Angel Falls, Venezuela
3. Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico
4. Tindouf, Algeria
5. St. Brelade, Jersey

Jennings -

1. Sicily
2. Israel
3. Kathmandu, Nepal / Khumbu Region (Mt. Everest Park)
4. Baja, California

Buy any of Pontiak's stellar releases here, and you can be sure to hear more of these guys in the New Year!

Pontiak - Algiers By Day

Droning Hootenanny

Another band from the Thrill Jockey stable (via Not Not Fun) is Barn Owl. I have only just come across this clip of their track 'Light From The Mesa', and its pretty damn greasch. Languid droning music that fits right alongside stablemates White Hills (also mentioned on Sonic Masala today - yep, Im in that kinda mood) more elegaic tones, the San Fran outfit have been infiltrating the underground scene since 2007, putting out myriad releases under all kinds of guises (most of them handmade and limited editions). They are also on their way to the UK next month, where they will be playing Supersonic in Birmingham (which is a unique and most definitely awesome festival, showcase the harder, darker edge of the rock abyss - headlining are Godflesh and Swans...), whilst also managing to squeeze in a London gig at Corsica Studios with Master Musicians of Bukkake on October 25th. If the Moon Duo gig at Corsica is a precursor of the quality of performance this venue elicits, then this will be something special.

Barn Owl - Light from the Mesa from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

3/4 of White Hills is Better Than Most...

Thrill Jockey have just released a music clip for their psych-dwelling charges White Hills' new single off this year's bloody amazing self titled LP, 'Three Quarters.' A typically raucous affair, the track boasts more bombast from the fact that the band is finally playing alongside mastermind Dave W, rather than just backing up his wigged-out blueprints. Its fair to say this is also due to Ego Sensation's (yep that is her name...) bruising bass lines and Kid Millions' inimitable skinsmanship matching if not surpassing Dave W's dark drawl and darker riffage. Its a killer track, with an understandably dark, no frills clip. If you haven't bought White Hills, already, don't come back round here til you have.


Three Quarters by WHITE HILLS from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Brothers In Arms

I posted back in March about Pontiak, the Virginian trio otherwise known as the Carney brothers. The bearded ones' weapon of choice is sludgy blues-inflected stoner noise, and their effort when alongside Thrill Jockey stablemates White Hills was something to be reckoned with. They are also quite prolific, having produced five albums in two years. Their latest, Living, is a true 'album' album, to be listened from start to finish, rinse and repeat. Here's the first cut.

Pontiak - Young

Going to the Dogs

I do love my 70s rock. As cliched as people try to make Led Zeppelin/Black Sabbath/et al out to be, they knew how to make fucking great rock music. There are many bands that take elements of these gods and make them their own - White Hills comes to mind of a band that I have seen recently that invoked that feeling - but only a few fully embrace it and come out on top.

Earl Greyhound is one of them.

Originally a two-piece consisting of Matt Whyte and Kamara Thomas, they have been kicking around since 2002 in NYC. They brought in a drummer, Chris Bear, but he left the band in 2005 to try his luck with a little known band called Grizzly Bear. However it wasnt long before they caught the eye of The Root's guitarist Kirk Douglass, who introduced them to friend and Gold Crowns drummer Ricc Sheridan. The line-up became complete.

They have just released an LP, Suspicious Package.

Earl Greyhound - Ghost and the Witness